Car starter and brake



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

B. P. SHAKESPEARE.

GAR STARTER AND BRAKE.

No. 299,023. Patented May 20, 1884.

A $4 E M I'//////////4| |V////,!|V////////A V WITNESSES: NTOR' N. PETERS. Pmmmhn n mr. wasnin mn. 0.6.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No ModeL) B. F. SHAKESPEARE.

UAR STARTER AND BRAKE.

No. 299,023. Patented May 20, 1884.

INVEN'ITOR WITNESSES:

Unirnn Sterne ATTJNT -rrrcn. Y

BENJAMIN F. SHAKESPEARE, OF CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR STARTER AND BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 299,023, dated May 20, 1884:.

Application filed March 26, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. SHAKE- srnnnn, a citizen of the United States,residing at the city of Chester, in the county of Delaware and State of Pennsylvania,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car- Starters, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a plan, the hand-levers and plat form having been removed. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse sectional view on the plane of line a b, Fig. 1, the car-platform and hand-levers being in place. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section of the pinion and ratchet drums on the fixed shaft B. Fig. 4. is a section on the line 0 (Z, Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is adetail of ratchet-wheel, clamping or friction band, and lever.

The general nature of this my invention is a combination of devices for the purpose of transferring to a spring a portion of the force or momentum of a moving car, and utilizing the force thus stored for starting the car.

The invention is designed more especially to be applied to street or tramway horse-cars; and it consists of the combination,with a powerful spring and rack-bars connecting therewith, of a series of ratchet and pinion cylinders'or wheels connecting with the axle of the car, whereby the rotation of the axle or impetus of the car is conveyed at the will of the driver to certain of the series of said ratchet and pinion wheels, and through them, by one of said rack-bars, to the spring, and the power accumulated in the latter is transferred back again to the car-axle through others of the series of ratchet and pinion wheels, the other rack-bar and adjuncts, and utilized in starting the car, as will be hereinafter explained in detail.

The invention also consists in the combination, with the devices above referred to, of a means whereby the driver of the car may hold the spring under tension and release the same when desired to operate upon the car'axle.

Referring now to the annexed drawings, A is the front axle of a street-car. Beneath the front platform, 1), Figs. 2, 3, and 4., is a shaft, B, fixed in brackets c, that are secured to the under side of the platform. Upon car-axle A is a sprocket-wheel, S,in line with a similar wheel, S, on shaft B, around which wheels passes the endless chain 0. \Vheel S is free to rotate upon its shaft. Its inner edge or face is provided with ratchet-teeth t, which correspond with the ratchet-teeth t upon the edge of an adjacent pinion drulnwheel, P, on the same shaft. VVh eel S is capable of being reciprocated while rotating on the shaft by means of a hand-lever, L, extending above the platform through an opening therein, and pivoted to a bracket, 2, beneath the platform. This lever is forked, and has studs 3 on each side thereof, extending into a groove, 4, insaid wheel. A spring-catch, 5, working in the teeth of a rack, 6, serves to retain the lever in position. In the drawings the ratchet-teeth of this wheel are shown as engaged with those of pinion P; and I may here explain that the apparatus as a whole is shown in the drawings with the several parts in theposition occupied by them at the instant that the ratchetdrums S and P are thrown into engagement. Now, it will be obvious that when the car is in motion and the axle rotating in the direction of the arrows the wheel S will turn idly upon its shaft. Pinion P is in engagement with an upper rack-bar, R, which, with a similarbar,

R, hereinafter to be referred to, connects a rod, 1', which runs through the spring 1X, and its box y, upon whose farther extremity is a disk, 7, against which the end of the spring bears. Opposite pinion I, but independent thereof, is a similar pinion wheel or cylinder, P, whose cogs engage with those of an under rack-bar, R, which, as before stated, is also connected to the rod 1-, as shown, and the outer edge of the wheel I is also provided with ratchet-teeth it. Adjacent to wheel 1 is a sprocket-drum, S", with ratchet-teeth t", the counterpart of the first-described drum or wheel S, and it is capable of being slid to and fro on its shaft by meansof a hand-lever, L, with a connecting-rod, 8, constructed and arranged with relation to said wheel as is the lever L to the wheel S. Upon the car-axle, in line with wheel or drum S is a sprocketwheel, S, which, in the present instance, is considerably larger in diameter than wheel S Around these passes an endless drivechain, 0. The spring X, which, in this instance, is a compression spring, is contained within a case or cylinder, 9 that is firmly secured to a suitable framing underneath the carbody.

Having explained the construction and relative arrangementof the several parts of my invention, I shall now describe their modus operandi, which is as follows: Supposing the car to be running, and it is desired to bring it to a stop at a street-crossing or elsewhere, the driver throws back the lever-Lthat is, from a forward position to that of Fig. '2. This movement forces the ratchet-drum Stoward the pinion-drum P,and the teeth of the former engage with those of the latter, as seen in the drawings. The wheel P instantly partakes of the rotation of S, which, it is remembered, acquires its motion from the car-axle through the sprocket-chain C. The result is the rack-bar R is advanced, and the spring X thereby compressed against the forward bead n of cylinder y. Immediately upon the stoppage of the car the driver draws forward the other lever, L, which slides the teeth of the sprocket ratchetdrum S into engagement with those of the pinion-drum P. \Vhen the car is to be started, he reverses the lever L, and thereby slides back wheel S out of engagement with piniondrum P. The force of the compressed spring is now exerted upon the pinion P through its rack-bar R, and it is conveyed to the drum S thence to the car-axle in the proper direction by the sprocket-chain O, and is multiplied in the present instance owing to the fact,

\ as previously stated, that sprockct-wheel S" is of greater diameter than wheel S The pinion P being disengaged from S, as stated, it turns idly upon the shaft as the rack-bars are drawn back by the spring X.

By the described arrangement of independent pinions and' corresponding upper and lower racks, itis obvious that the suitable forward rotation is imparted from the spring to the car-axle.

It will be observed (see Fig. 4) that the cogs of the upper rack-bar do not extend the entire length of the bar,-a blank or space being left toward the inner end next the spring, while the cogs are continued on the corresponding 'space of the lower rack; also, that the outer extremity of the latter has a blank space similar to that at the other end of the upper rack, and in the opposite portion of the latter the cogs are continued. The purpose of this is as follows: If the cogs of the upper rack extended its full length, the mechanism would be apt to become fractured, as the pinion P would, if the car should not be brought to a stop in time, continue to draw out the bar, and breakage occur before the driver could throw the ratchet-drum S out of engagement with pinion-dru1n P; but by the construction described the draw ceases when the pinion runs out upon the blank space of the bar, and yet the other pinion remains in engagement with the cog of the lower rack, so thatat all times its pinion. The like construction of the lower rack-bar is for a similar purpose-i. 0., to prevent breakage.

It is obviously desirable to store up power in the spring when the car is running at comparatively high speed, and has thereby acquired considerable momentum. Now, it frequently occurs that, although a car may be driven at very high speed between crossrun slowly, some time before arriving at a street-crossing or other stopping-place, in which latter case to throw in the wheel S and thus set the spring-compressing devices into tively little momentum of the car, be a tax upon the'horses. of the high speed, and then store up a portion of the momentum of the car and hold it until desired for use in starting the car after it has come to a'stop, I provide the following desteel or other suitablematerial, is passed around the pinion-wheel drum, Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 5, one end of which band is fixed to a bracket, m, Figs. 2 and 3, beneath the platform 19, and its other end is connected to the short arm of a crank-lever, L which is pivoted beneath said platform and extends up through an opening .therein. By throwing this lever back, (which should be done as soon as wheel P has traversed the rack R its full extentthat is tion of the latter,) the band is compelled to hug the periphery of the drum P, thereby preventing its rotation. The potential force of the spring ready to draw upon said pinion is rendered inactive, but acts as soon as the driver chooses to release the grip of the friction-band, he of course at the same time throwing the drum S into engagement with the drum P. A catch, 9, upon the lever, (see Fig. 2,) in connection with teeth in a segmental plate, 10, serves to retain the lever in position.

I do not confine myself to the precise construction shownand described, as the parts may be considerably modified by any intelligent mechanic and still be within the scope of my invention.

I claim as new and wish to secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination of the sliding drum S, adapted to engage with the pinion-drum P,

rack R, pinion P, rack It, the sliding drum S, adapted to engage with pinion-drum P, the spring X, and rod r, connecting said spring and racks, together with means, substantially as described, for connecting said sliding drums with the axle of the car, all constructed and arranged in correlation and adapted to operforth.

the sprocket-wheel 'S thereon, the loose ratchat least one of the racks will be engaged with et and sprocket drum S, chain 0, lever L, the

operation would, by reason of the compara 2. The combination, with the car-axle, of

streets, it is necessary to check the same, or

In order to take advantage vices, to wit: A flexible friction-band, F, of

to say, it has run out upon the smooth porate substantially as and for the purpose set] loose pinion and ratchet drum P, its rack 1t, pinion and ratchet drum 1?, its rack B, (said racks being on opposite sides of said pinions,

'3. The combination, with the drum S, pin- 1 10 ion 1?, rack R, pinion P, rack R, drum S and spring X, connected to said racks, all con structed and adapted to operate substantially as set forth, of the friction brake or band F upon pinion-drum P, with means for tightening and releasing said band, substantially as I 5 and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof Ihave hereunto affixed my signature this 15th day of March, A. D. 1884.

BENJAMIN F. SHAKESPEARE.

Witnesses:

J os. MOELHATTEN, JOHN V. RIPPERGER. 

